Iran: ‘No agreement’ seen in key issues before Syria talks

If a ceasefire can be reached in Syria’s four-and-a-half-year-old civil war, then Syrian troops, Russian Federation and a U.S.-led coalition can focus their fire on the hardline extremist ISIL group.

Trump pointed to his experience as a dealmaker and said that while some see Russia as a problem for the United States – most in the Republican Party have described Russia as the U.S.’s top global adversary – Trump said one “could also see Russia being a really big asset to our country”. “Putin called the project “acceptable” and said that Europe and the United States were very much concerned about what is happening in the Middle East”. The annual event held since 2008 is known for its wide-ranging and often colorful comments by the president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his anger at Turkey for downing its fighter jet last month during his annual press conference. Mentioning again his talks with John Kerry, he agreed with the United States that a new constitution for Syria has to be created as well as the control over the election, as long as Syrians choose their government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump lavished praise on each other from across the continents, marking another unusual twist in the 2016 presidential race.

And in remarks closely mirroring Trump’s assessment of the campaign, the Russian leader called Trump “the absolute leader of the presidential race”, according to the Russian TASS news agency.

“Turkish jets used to fly all the time in Syrian airspace – violating Syrian airspace”.

Of course, Putin is highly respected within his own country. “Certainly, we welcome it”.

Asked about Putin’s feedback, White House spokesman Josh Earnest stated they sounded fairly near an endorsement of Trump.

On other issues, Putin said Russia was working with Egypt to restore air links severed following the October 31 crash of a Russian passenger in the Sinai desert that killed all 224 people aboard.

In the presence of foreign experts, Russian officials on Friday opened the damaged black box of a warplane shot down by Turkey, promising a transparent probe into the incident.

“If someone in the Turkish leadership made a decision to lick the Americans in a particular place I don’t know whether they acted correctly or not and I don’t know… whether the Americans needed that”, said Putin, referring to the shooting down.

But he would not weigh in on whether a Trump presidency would change US-Russian relations. “At least, the peak of the crisis”, said Mr Putin.

Putin and Erdogan have been locked in a war of words since the plane downing, and Moscow has even accused Erdogan s family of engaging in oil smuggling operations with Islamic State jihadists.

“They never have been star children, they never liked the limelight, they are just living their lives and do it honorably”, Putin said.